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[0:16] armus day 1940 the day started out

[0:20] beautiful uh it's just like any other

[0:22] ordinary fall day uh Minnesota was

[0:25] primarily

[0:26] Agricultural and uh things seemed fairly

[0:29] normal a day to remember but in those

[0:32] days 1940 there was no Advanced National

[0:36] Weather Service like we have today where

[0:38] they can predict the weather days in

[0:40] advance there weren't cell phones in

[0:42] fact many homes didn't even have

[0:44] telephones at all the day started out

[0:47] mild Sunny people dressed accordingly

[0:50] with just light clothing on but by mid

[0:54] afternoon it had turned horribly cold

[0:57] the wind would picked up from the north

[0:59] it was very very very cold it started to

[1:02] snow and people were not dressed

[1:06] properly many many many duck Hunters

[1:09] were out in their blinds and weren't

[1:11] dressed properly and died froze to death

[1:14] Farmers had a very difficult time

[1:17] getting to their animals out in the barn

[1:20] some of them got lost blinded by the

[1:23] snow and froze to death in their in the

[1:26] Groves close to their Farms

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[1:33] it's a story that uh my mother told many

[1:36] times over the years of what happened

[1:38] with her uh during the Armistice Day

[1:40] blizzard November 11th 1940 as I look

[1:44] back to my years at the Lakeville High

[1:47] School there is one occasion I will

[1:49] never forget on November 11th 1940 my

[1:54] brother Julian and I rode the school bus

[1:57] to Lakeville as usual it was a mild day

[2:00] in November and uh warm it was kind of

[2:03] overcast a little bit Misty and they her

[2:06] and her brother Julian rode the school

[2:08] boss to school each day so they just

[2:12] dressed in light clothes they wore light

[2:14] jackets no hats or scarves no gloves

[2:18] mittens and the girls all wore skirts to

[2:21] school so she wore a skirt that day

[2:24] before noon it had started to snow

[2:26] heavily we were served our lunch and

[2:29] then dismissed they called for the

[2:31] school bus and the uh owner and operator

[2:34] of the school bus was Arnold saber my

[2:36] dad had a transportation company before

[2:40] he and my mother got married in 41 and

[2:43] part of that Transportation was starting

[2:46] the bus service he also delivered cream

[2:49] to Lakeville and milk to

[2:53] Farmington so the bus service was part

[2:56] of him driving and working with vehicles

[2:59] and so he came to pick up the kids at

[3:02] school uh after they had fed them lunch

[3:05] and they started out for Credit River

[3:07] Township is where my mom grew up on a

[3:10] farm and so they only got maybe 2 miles

[3:14] out of Lakeville traveling west a

[3:17] terrible blizzard hit the area it was

[3:20] impossible to see the road and finally

[3:24] the bus became stuck in a huge drift

[3:27] Arnold tried in vain to get the bus out

[3:30] of the snow drift get the bus unstuck

[3:33] and it just wasn't working and

[3:35] eventually the transmission went out on

[3:37] the bus and so they were stranded there

[3:39] Arnold made some attempts to locate some

[3:41] shelter for them but the visibility was

[3:44] really very bad they couldn't see so

[3:47] they just kind of tried to wait it out

[3:49] and when it got to be about 7:00 at

[3:51] night Arnold felt that if they stayed in

[3:55] the bus they would freeze to death it

[3:57] was very cold out very windy and the bus

[4:01] was running out of gasoline Arnold made

[4:03] a decision based on a farm that he had

[4:06] passed uh about a half a mile or quarter

[4:09] mile back that they should all hold

[4:12] hands form a chain don't let go and

[4:15] we're going to make it to this Farm

[4:17] Arnold and um some boys led the way cuz

[4:20] they had long pants on and then the

[4:22] girls were next and they tried to walk

[4:25] in the tracks of the boys the oldest

[4:27] boys brought up the rear to make sure

[4:29] know kids were left behind and they

[4:31] walked about a quar of a mile to a farm

[4:34] and they got to the farm and they got

[4:37] inside and they were in shelter there

[4:39] was frostbite and their ears Etc and my

[4:42] mom described having to peel literally

[4:44] peel ice off the back of her calves the

[4:47] farm family was a young couple that had

[4:50] one baby we thought the farmer's wife

[4:53] must have gone into shock with 26 kids

[4:56] coming into her home we were never

[4:58] offered any food that evening or

[5:01] breakfast the next morning after closing

[5:04] the kitchen door she made breakfast for

[5:07] her own family and then asked us if we

[5:09] would like a cup of coffee they didn't

[5:11] have a telephone so there was no calling

[5:13] for help Arnold decided that that wasn't

[5:15] a good place to just camp out for the

[5:18] remainder of the storm so he and two of

[5:21] the oldest boys uh one of them being my

[5:24] mother's brother I decided to walk for

[5:26] help and Arnold's Family Farm was about

[5:28] 2 miles away

[5:30] so they uh walked through the snow

[5:33] drifts 2 miles to the saber Farm they

[5:37] got a team of work horses and a box sled

[5:42] he brought the sled to the other Farm

[5:45] they loaded all the kids into the back

[5:47] of the sled and covered them all over

[5:49] with horse blankets and they made their

[5:52] way into the town of

[5:53] Lakeville and the first place they

[5:55] stopped was the local cafe and and

[6:00] Arnold told all the

[6:01] kids go in order whatever you want to

[6:04] eat don't worry about paying for it

[6:07] it'll be fine and in the meantime he got

[6:09] a hold of the superintendent of

[6:11] Lakeville schools and they started

[6:13] calling families in Lakeville and asking

[6:15] if they could take a child or two in

[6:17] until the till they could get back home

[6:20] my mother and another girl stayed with

[6:23] one family and her brother and another

[6:24] guy stayed with a different family and

[6:26] her brother and his friend decided they

[6:29] could shovel snow and make some money

[6:31] and the local movie theater operator

[6:33] opened up the movie theater for the kids

[6:35] one of the evenings they could go and

[6:37] they could have popcorn and they could

[6:39] watch the movies after a terrible

[6:42] experience in the blizzard it was so

[6:45] great to be safe and sound and to be

[6:48] treated with such kindness and the

[6:50] people in town had telephones my

[6:52] grandparents my mother's parents didn't

[6:54] know where they were and for over 24

[6:58] hours once they got into town they could

[7:00] call all the families and say your

[7:02] children are safe it was 3 days before

[7:06] my grandfather could get into town to

[7:08] bring them back home Arnold he was only

[7:11] 25 years old when he had the

[7:13] responsibility for all these kids and

[7:15] making sure that they um didn't perish

[7:19] that they got brought to safety we never

[7:21] really heard about the blizzard story

[7:23] this was all news to me and wonderfully

[7:26] so when I talked with Judy and and she

[7:30] filled me in on her mother's um write up

[7:33] and he had the bus company until he was

[7:35] drafted for the war so it does not

[7:39] surprise me at all that my dad would

[7:42] have done the very best he could for the

[7:44] kids he not only brought him to safety

[7:46] once he brought him to sa safety Two

[7:48] Times by walking to his parents' farm

[7:50] and getting the horses and the sled and

[7:53] and uh making sure they were all covered

[7:55] up and warm and so he took a lot of

[7:58] responsibility for a young man of 25

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